2026 shortlisted entries
Akida Ainiwaer
The Will (2023)
Oil on canvas, 40cm (H) x 50cm (W)
This work is inspired by the Dolan people within the Uyghur community, with cultural roots in the Awat region and a history marked by resilience, mobility, courage, creativity, and a deep connection to the land. Over centuries of living in the deserts and poplar forests of the Tarim Basin, they have also developed a distinctive language and unique styles of music, dance, and artistic practices shaped by both hardship and a profound love of life and nature. The Will, the title of the work, refers to the enduring spirit of a people whose cultural traditions continue to thrive in the face of adversity, as they have over thousands of years, through storytelling, music, dance, and collective memory. This work simultaneously celebrates and honours the local cultural heritage of Dolan while connecting it to humanity’s yearning for dignity and belonging, as well as its capacity for unapologetic self-determination.
Chang Yui Cheong Richards
Water bottle sellers (2025)
Digital photograph
At the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and Sarasvati, long before the first pilgrims descend the ghats, the water bottle sellers gather in the quiet dawn light. Every 144 years, millions travel vast distances seeking purification in these holy waters. These vendors also prepare their offerings in form of plastic bottles, so that devotees may carry the river’s blessing home to loved ones.
Halima Ibrahim
Naturalization (2024)
Digital photograph of a collage
Naturalization is part of a series by the same name that is an interrogation of the American dream and assimilation. The series discusses the topic through the format of passport photos and passports of African students at Stanford University, where I attended undergrad. This piece is a collage made from scanned front covers of the students passports and then sewn together into one passport. By sewing the passports together, the piece visualizes what finding community means within the diaspora and as an immigrant.
Jan Huebel
Monster Building, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong (2024)
Digital photograph
The ‘Monster Building’ in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong, has been home to over 10,000 residents since the early 1970s. It is emblematic of high-density residential blocks across Hong Kong. Standing in the middle of the central courtyard is an awe-inspiring experience, taking in the building’s gigantic dimensions near impossible. In recent years, the local government has promoted the building as a photography destination. At peak times around noon (when the sun reaches the courtyard), the complex is teeming with influencers shooting reels. I much preferred the quieter evenings, which is when this photograph was taken. Yet, it was above all the residential complex’s designation as a ‘monster building’ that gave me pause. How does the description of a home as a ‘monster’ shape residents’ sense of identity and agency?
Jessica Ewert
Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu, Australia (2023)
Analogue photograph
This photo was taken in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory of Australia while on a tour of the Yellow Water Billabong hosted by the Indigenous-owned Yellow Water Cruises. We boarded the boat at twilight hour, observing the landscape awaken and come to life. There were kangaroos on the river bank, kingfishers nesting in trees, and crocodiles calming and eerily gliding past. As part of my first time visiting the Northern Territory, it was incredibly meaningful to see the vastness of the landscape and learn about over 65,000 years of history in the Kakadu region. Kakadu is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site, well known for the preservation of Aboriginal rock art, wetlands, and wildlife.
Junlong Li
Tranquillity (2025)
Digital photograph
Taken at the Water Meadow in Oxford, this photograph captures a quiet moment of studying in the calm of nature. To me, tranquillity is a state in which nature, humans, and thought are deeply connected. The calmness of the natural world creates space for studying and contemplation, allowing the mind to engage openly with ideas.
Oxford is a place where global ideas converge. In moments of tranquillity, thought is not confined by geography or borders, but travels across cultures, histories, and intellectual traditions. While studying, students at Oxford engage with ideas from every part of the world. The theme ‘Unapologetically Global’ is therefore reflected in the power of ideas to connect Oxford students from different cultures and traditions.
Kimberly Kreiss
Phoebe’s Sweet Hello (2026)
Oil on canvas, 29.5cm (H) x 21cm (W)
This is an oil painting of our beloved family cat, Phoebe, greeting you from the staircase as you enter the house. She is sweet, curious, and very friendly. She likes to go part way up the stairs so she can be eye-level with you when you come in to say hello.
This is one of my favorite moments in which her unique personality shows itself. I hope the painting can prompt people to think of and appreciate the quirks of their beloved animal companions or animals they’ve interacted with. I hope it encourages viewers to appreciate the individual personalities of animals we see regularly like the college cats or the cows or horses in Port Meadow.
I hope it can also prompt people to reflect on the universality of human-animal companionship, and consider our individual and collective relationships with animals, our treatment of them, and its affect on our planet.
Lauren Jarnach
New Delhi, 2024 (2024)
Analogue photograph
New Delhi. Staying alert to flux. Letting the city come to you rather than trying to fix it in place. The frame of this photograph isn’t carefully staged; it’s assembled in motion, shaped by quick decisions and instinct. A passing motorbike becomes a blur, a mark of time moving through the photograph. The colors and textures of the storefront aren’t just visual details, but materials the image is built from. Figures drift in and out of alignment. The process is one of accumulation: color, movement, and chance encounters folding into a single exposure. In New Delhi, the camera doesn’t pause the city – it negotiates with it, absorbing its pace and unpredictability. What remains is less a record of a scene and more a trace of engagement, where seeing and reacting happen almost simultaneously.
Romane Tholome
The Echo of Thundering Hooves (2025)
Digital photograph
Before the colonization of the American West, 60 million bison roamed the plains. Seeking to dismantle Indigenous sovereignty, the government sponsored a mass slaughter, decimating the population to just hundreds by the 1890s. This photograph captures a lone bison on the salt crusted shores of Antelope Island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. This herd originated as a commercial enterprise in 1893, when James Dooly imported twelve bison to his island to profit from their near-extinction through private hunting. When his venture failed, these majestic animals were abandoned to the elements and human exploitation until 1981 when the state of Utah acquired the land, finally granting the herd protection. This image serves as a stark meditation on the global reach of European conquest and the ecological devastation in its wake. It is a testament to the unapologetic resilience of bison, who, against global odds, continue to thrive in their new sanctuary.
Satoshi Watarai
A Global Citizen in Training (2026)
Digital photograph
At just 15 months old, this child is already a citizen of the world. Born in Italy, holding Japanese roots, and currently living in the UK, their identity naturally transcends borders.
This photograph captures a fearless moment of them stepping forward into the world. They are wearing a Pokemon helmet – a symbol of Japanese global pop culture and a T-shirt from the American musical Hamilton. The shirt’s message, ‘Young, scrappy and hungry’, famously celebrates the resilient spirit of immigrants.
Equipped with this beautiful multicultural armor, the child looks ahead with pure determination. They do not perceive national boundaries or cultural barriers; they simply embrace life. This innocent yet powerful stance perfectly embodies the essence of being ‘Unapologetically global’ – a new generation proudly wearing diverse cultures, ready to take their very first steps without any hesitation.
Yuxuan Wang
The World on One Stage (2025)
Digital photograph
This photograph was taken at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London during a Christmas performance of The Nutcracker. A German tale by E. T. A. Hoffmann, adapted through Alexandre Dumas (French) and set to Tchaikovsky’s Russian music, has become a British festive tradition performed before a full theatre. In a period marked by geopolitical tension and cultural division, the scene captures an unapologetically global form of artistic inheritance: translated, transformed, and still collectively enjoyed across borders.